The Scottish Government has launched a £1 million pound support fund to help 40 new legal trainees in an effort to boost the profession during COVID recovery.
Legal aid is defined as advice or schemes set up to help people with the cost of legal advice.
This could be anything from criminal legal advice, civil legal aid, children's hearings as well as court hearings connected to children and general advice and assistance.
The investment will be in form of package support for the legal sector worth up to £20 million including a resilience fund for legal aid firms and law centres worth up to £9 million.
To qualify a firm must have at least 20% of their business come from legal aid work and trainees hired as a result of grants will need to spend the majority of their time working on legal aid cases.
This means that the trainees brought on by the scheme will be able to provide free legal advice and services to those on low incomes, some of whom have found themselves worse off following the pandemic.
Increasing the capability and capacity of the legal aid profession is one of the aims of the fund.
The other being to increase diversity within the role with a focus on recruitment and retention of trainees from under-represented groups, including people with a disability, from minority ethnic communities, or from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds.
If you are getting Income Support, income-based Jobseeker’s Allowance, income-related Employment and Support Allowance or Universal Credit you will be eligible for free legal advice and assistance, unless you have savings over the limit.
COVID-19 has put pressure on those on lower incomes with Citizens Advice Scotland having issued special notices to inform Scots that Legal Aid is available to those who might have experienced temporary loss of income and those who are self-employed and therefore entitled to extra financial support.
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